String instrument.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. FULLERTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE PHONOHARP COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

STRING INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 671,997, dated April 16, 1901.

Application filed July 1'7, 1899. Serial No. 724,050. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE ARTHUR FUL- LERTON, of Boston, in the county of Sufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an 5 Improved String Instrument, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end view of one of my improved instruments with a, portion of the to shield broken away. Fig. 2 is a partial plan of one of my improved instruments broken away in parts to better illustrate my invention.

Machines of this class-that is, made up of a frame carrying a sounding-board, with a bridge at the lower end of the board and strings extending over the bridge and bent over the lower end of the board-have generally had the hitch-pins driven in holes drilled in the cross-piece at the lower end of the frame and each string has been looped on its hitchpin. This construction has been found objectionable in many respects, such as the need of a jig for drilling the holes, the tedious labor of inserting each pin in its holder and driving them uniformly, the fact that the hitch-pins will not yield uniformly under the strain of the strings, the tendency of the loop in the end-of a string to fly over the end of the hitch-pin while stringing the instrument, the tendency of the hitch-pin block to split and the like, due to the great number of hitchpins, and the fact that each must be properly inserted in a block of wood.

The object of my invention is to do away with these objections, and my invention is a string instrument made up of a frame, a sounding-board on the frame, and a bridge at the lower end of the board, with the lower 0 cross-piece of the frame grooved or cut away and reinforced by a plate of metal covering the recess in the cross-piece formed by grooving it and provided with holes so shaped as to receive and retain the looped or otherwise enlarged ends of the strings.

In the drawings, A is the lower cross-piece of the frame, made as usual, except that it is grooved or recessed at that surface in which the hitch-pins have heretofore been driven. That recess or groove is covered by a metal plate B, which is securely fastened over that recess, preferably by a flange b and nails or screws Z), as clearly shown in the drawings. The perforations b in plate B are arranged to suit the arrangement of the strings W, and each is large enough at one end to admit the enlarged end to of its string, so that by simply inserting that enlarged or looped end and giving a slight pull upon the string the stringer can almost instantly secure that end of the string to the recessed cross-piece and its covering plate, which together constitute the hitch-pin block. The perforations b may be made at a single operation of a punch and be thus each arranged exactly right relatively to all the others, and the exact and accurate adjustment of plate B with relation to crosspiece A is readily attained, as will be obvious.

My compound hitch-pin block, consisting of the recessed piece A and the perforated plate B, is wholly free from the objections above alluded to and adds to the strength and durability of the instrument and also causes it to remain in tune much longer.

D is a shield much used in certain forms of instruments of this class; but it is mainly a matter of finish for such instruments as are now commonly called harps or citherns and forms no part of my invention.

What I claim as my invention is- The improved string instrument above described composed of a frame; a soundingboard on that frame; a lower cross-piece with a recess in that wall of the cross-piece which is at a right angle with the sounding-board; a perforated plate covering that recess and at a right angle with the sounding-board; and strings each secured at one end to the perforated plate.

GEORGE A. FULLERTON.

Witnesses:

WM. MAYNADIN, ARTHUR F. RANDALL. 

